Action Research as an approach to develop teaching materials for meaningful Physical Education: Experiences from the action research project “More meaningful Physical education in primary school”.

The last decade international researchers have been particularly interested in meaningful Physical education (PE) as an approach for teaching and learning (Fletcher et. al., 2021; Kretchmar, 2006). However, there is limited guidance for teachers on how they best promote meaningful experiences in PE (Fletcher et. al., 2021). In the project “More meaningful Physical education I primary school”, we aim to generate knowledge of what characterizes and supports meaningful experiences in PE for pupils in Danish Primary school.
This presentation at the AIESEP conference will primarily focus on how action research can be used as an approach to develop teaching strategies and teaching-materials.
The project is designed as an action research project because it revolves around changes in practice based on the practitioner’s experiences and visions (Kemmis, 2009; Reason & Bradbury, 2008). Through cycles of practical experiments and critical reflection, 29 teachers and pedagogues from four Danish schools in collaboration with a team of researchers, developed some teaching strategies and teaching materials to promote meaningful experiences and motivation among children in Danish Primary school. We have used ethnographic field notes (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 2011) as a data collection tool, which comprises 29 summaries from workshops and 70 observations of PE lessons with children aged 5–9 years. The data analysis of the field notes is inspired by a thematic analysis approach.
We identified six different didactical tools, which formed the basis for teachers and pedagogues’ development and testing of meaningful PE practice in their teaching. Subsequently we carried out joint reflections on their practices and their implication for their teaching on the following workshop. Thise reflections where informed be theoretical input about meaningful PE. The six pedagogical principles formed the basis of a teaching material with three suggestions for concrete learning trajectories and activity cards. Which were tested, evaluated, and further developed through action cycles. Based on this, we can derive the following points of attention:
•Recruitment and expectations alignment are key: Practitioners should be encouraged to engage in analysis, discussions, and development.
•The inclusion of students' voices to explore how they experience the principles in their own words is essential for practitioners' involvement in developing the materials.
•The various school cultures and expectations regarding physical education have a significant impact on how meaningful experiences in PE are perceived.
•Teachers and pedagogues have different approaches to planning and developing physical education.